Looks that Kill | Strange Beauty Trends | Then & Now

A few days back I saw Suhana Khan, daughter of Bollywood star Shah Rukh Khan Fight back haters on social media for certain comments that were directed towards her skin colour and body shaming. Some called her “too dark”, others “You are not beautiful at all” and so on.

Indians, as we all know - are in love with “fair complexion”. This has been ingrained in my thoughts soooooo much – that there came a point when skin lightening advertisements showing a girl’s transformation from being an under-confident loser to fair complexioned confident winner- cracking interviews and flipping hair had stopped making me cringe.

And that got me thinking about all the weight women carry – some willingly, a lot unwillingly. Why is the expectation of adhering to most beauty standards from women? Why are women the flag-bearers of being desirable? Desirable- in ways which are not necessarily comfortable, healthy and ends up doing more harm than good.

There are men and women who choose certain beauty and lifestyle standards consciously. And that’s okay with me. If you know the side-effects of doing multiple boob-jobs, piercing your nipple, liposuctions, face lifting surgeries, plucking every strand of hair from your body, wearing a corset and killing yourself to KETO diet and still choose it – Great. I couldn’t care less.

What bothers me, is the image that is left behind for the impressionable minds to comprehend. When a teenager tucks in her stomach and pops out her chest and ass, just by looking at what the Kardashians wore for an evening walk – THAT BOTHERS ME. These young minds don’t know prolonged wearing of corset literally re-arranges your organs and makes permanent changes to our ribs.

So I read up about all the “amazing” beauty standards that women had taken upon themselves or were pushed down on them because they never had the option of not choosing – and here are some strangest ones which I promise, will BLOW YOUR MIND:

1.       Heart Shaped Face – You read it right.

This is the most sought after trend in South Korea. A heart shaped face is deemed more desirable and there are hoardings/ advertisements that run openly – endorsing the same. Women under-go painful and complex plastic surgeries to not be left out in the “marriage market”.

 

2.      Long Neck

The Kayan people in Eastern Burma believe – longer the neck people have, the more beautiful they are. The women from this community wear multiple brass rings around their neck. This alters the natural height, shape of their collar bone and neck. They are also popularly known as “giraffe women”.

 

3.       Longer finger nails

Chinese were among the first few cultures to endorse long (ish) nails and nail art. Nails, as long as 8-10 inches were a thing among the upper class. It was a status symbol –long nails meant it was impossible to do any manual labor and they had people employed for all kinds of chores, right from cleaning, feeding, self-hygiene, intimate care and pleasure.

 

4.      Out go the Eyelashes!

 

For European women back in middle ages and Renaissance, “Fresh face” was a beauty trend. So what did they do?

 Well, women plucked every single strand of hair from their face i.e. eyebrow, forehead, upper-lip AND EYE-LASHES! It sounds so painful and tormenting to begin with. Are you able to imagine the anguish – while feeling every hair being plucked out?

 

5.       Veiny Cleavage- a must have.

The 17th century England, began endorsing “cleavage” as fashion. Plunging neckline and more skin show of the upper torso became a trend most women saw themselves catching up to. But this did not come easy. Women had to wear all sorts of corset to get the perfect socially acceptable look.

 

6.      Separated Breast Corset

From 16th – 19th century, the variety of corset increased, endorsing body modification, smaller waists and lifted breasts. Because the earlier corsets made it difficult for women to breathe, the evolved design supported a new trend – Separated Breasts. People now preferred to have the gap between their breasts instead of the high & tight cleavage – making it slightly easier to breathe and work while wearing a corset.

 

7.       “S” shaped Corset Trend!

One of the many varieties of a corset was the “S Shaped” corset – that reduced the pressure on women’s waist and throw their hips at an exaggerated angle to create a “full” figure. However, this twisted their spines in unnatural postures, causing serious damage to their spinal cord and hip bone.

 

8.      Receding hairline was fashion

I am sure most of you must have looked at a renaissance painting and wondered what looked so odd about it? Let me tell you – It’s the large curvy foreheads that caught our attention! Back then, wider foreheads were indicators of beauty. 

So women would intentionally, pluck their hair and sport a receding hairline to widen their forehead.

 

9.      Pale complexion

Back in the 20th century, pale skin was much desired by European women of the upper class. A Pale skin meant you did not have to work outdoors, and that you had people who would work for you.


However, if a women’s natural skin tone wasn’t pale enough, they resorted to severe methods to get the right augmented skin color. For e.g. some relied on leeches to drain out their blood, for the beauty of it. Others would rely on paint and run the brush across their face, neck and brests to get the alabaster sheen.

As I kept reading, there were soooo many more beauty trends from back in the day that sounded simply unreal, to say the least.

Why is it so difficult to embrace ourselves for what we are, and not what we could be? Till the time your choices are healthy, sane, well-thought through and not causing any physical, mental and emotional trauma… I think we are good to go.

What do you think? Tell me in the comments below :)

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